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BUSINESS DAY/BASA AWARDS NOMINEES
(article first published : 2005-04-4)

Included among this year’s nominees for the Business Day/BASA awards are Afrisun KZN t/a Sibaya Casino for KwaMashu Community Advancement Projects (K-CAP), Hilton College for The Witness Hilton Arts Festival; Independent Newspapers for Durban Designer Collection and La Lucia Mall for Durban Theatre Awards.

Business and Arts South Africa, in collaboration with Business Day, launched awards for business sponsors of the arts in this country in 1997, to recognise and highlight businesses that make effective and innovative use of arts sponsorship and, in so doing, lift the profile of the arts. The eighth series of awards reflects a growing awareness within the corporate sector both of the inherent value of the arts to society at all levels, and of the business argument for supporting the arts.

In the category Best Use of a Commission of New Art, which recognises those sponsors who have had the vision to support the creation of new, original work in any arts medium and to use the commission effectively, nominations go to AngloGold Ashanti for Tall Horse; Appletiser for The Art of Pure Pleasure; Cell C for Cow Parade; Discovery for Encounters (a site specific permanent exhibition at their Head office).

Nominated in the First Time Sponsor category are Afrisun KZN t/a Sibaya Casino for KwaMashu Community Advancement Projects (K-CAP); City of Johannesburg for The Protégé Project through the Film & TV Unit of Monash South Africa; Clear Channel Independent for Art of Humanity Breaking the Silence HIV/AIDS billboard campaign; Daddy buy me a pony (a 9November Union Company) for Out in Africa South African Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and Deutsche Bank for Little Artists Project and Exhibition.

Increasing Access to the Arts focuses on those sponsors who have helped bring the arts to people who might not otherwise have access to them. Nominees are Brett Kebble of JCI for The Brett Kebble Art Awards; Fairheads International Trust Company for Clanwilliam Project; Media 24 for Die Burger Suideroosterfees, and National Port Authority for Port/Harbour Festival.

The International Sponsorship category recognises those businesses sponsoring South African arts abroad, or bringing an international arts project into South Africa, giving our public access to work it would not normally see. The nominees are Cell C for CCA Operations (Cow Parade SA); Nando’s Chicken Restaurants UK for Nando’s art programme Roots- Growing African Art, and Vodacom for Unisa International Music Competition.

Nominations for Long Term Development - a category designed to recognise companies that have not only committed to but developed sponsorship of an arts organisation or project over three or more years - go to Barloworld Motor (Pty) Limited t/a Avis Rent a Car for Out in Africa South African Gay & Lesbian Film Festival; Hilton College for The Witness Hilton Arts Festival; Johannesburg Development Agency for The Nation School of the Arts “Festival of Fame”; MTN for Arts & Culture Portfolio; Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC Cement) for PPC Young Concrete Sculptor Awards; South African Music Rights Organisation for SAMRO Endowment for the National Arts (SENA) Music Study Award Scheme; Spier Holdings for Spier Arts Summer Season, and Standard Bank for The Grahamstown Foundation – Standard Bank National Schools Festival.

Nominations for Media Sponsorship, for consistent support given by electronic or print media to the arts go to Classic FM for Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra; Clear Channel Independent for Art of Humanity Breaking the Silence HIV/AIDS billboard campaign; Independent Newspapers for Durban Designer Collection; The Sunday Times for International Classical Music Festival, and Umhlobo Wenene FM (SABC Radio Station) for Joyous Celebration.

The category Single Project focuses on an outstanding sponsorship or a series of projects with one organisation. The nominees are AngloGold Ashanti for Tall Horse; De Beers Consolidated Mines for The Gerard Sekoto Foundation – Murals Project; Cell C (Pty) Limited for C for the City; MTN for Resistance, Reconciliation, Reconstruction, and ORMS ProPhoto Warehouse for SA Centre for Photography.

Smaller companies with 1-200 full-time employees and an annual turnover of no more than R10million, who give vital support to arts projects, fall into the category Sponsorship by a Small Business. Nominees are Daddy buy me a pony (a 9November Union Company) for Out in Africa South African Gay & Lesbian Film Festival; Ritrovo Ristorante for Black Tie Ensemble, and The Design School Southern Africa for Art and Design Career Guidance and Promotion in Schools and Bursary Scheme.

Nominations in the category Sponsorship in Kind, where a company gives non-financial but essential support to the arts, go to Crown Relocations for Cow Parade SA; Gensec Property Services for National Eisteddfod Academy, and La Lucia Mall for Durban Theatre Awards.

The Strategic Sponsorship category looks at the best use of a sponsorship programme as an integral part of the sponsor’s overall marketing strategy. Nominated are Appletiser for The Art of Pure Pleasure, Cell C (Pty) Limited for C for the City, Rand Merchant Bank for The Starlight Classical Series; Skye Clothing (Pty) Ltd For African Flag Pantsula Dance and Music Group, and Spier Holdings for Spier Arts Summer Season.

One of the most popular areas for arts sponsorship is that which involves education and/or young people. In the category Youth Sponsorship, the nominees are ABSA Bank Limited for ABSA National Youth Music Competition; De Beers Cullinan Diamond Mine for Cullinan Field Band; Fairheads International Trust Company for The Clanwilliam Project; Grandwest Corporate Social Investment Committee for Artscape: Audience Development and Education; South African Music Rights Organisation for SAMRO Endowment for the National Arts (SENA) Music and Study Award Scheme, and Truworths Limited for Ibhabhathane Project.

The Chairman’s Premier Award is made annually at the discretion of the Chairman of Business and Arts South Africa. The awards will be presented on April 25 to those businesses deemed most successful in achieving their objectives and, through this, benefiting the arts in South Africa. The judging panel includes Darryl Accone , Gordon Cook, Linda Givon, Ivan May, Sizakele Marutlulle, Welcome Msomi, Fiona Ramsay and Annie Williamson. The voting process was monitored and audited by Clifford Amoils of Grant Thornton. More information from BASA on 011 832 3000/3041 or email: info@basa.co.za